When Kalen DeBoer flipped Omaha, Nebraska native Jett Thomalla from his commitment to Iowa State last summer, he was an overlooked three-star recruit who had Missouri, Duke, Arizona, and Virginia Tech rounding out his original top five. Now, in a Rivals latest recruiting rankings update, he’s rated as a five-star and the No. 24 player in the country.
https://x.com/rivals/status/2016164184799506751
Sure, there is still something to the ‘Alabama bump,’ the recruiting industry's reaction to top programs like Alabama’s recruiting interests, essentially deferring evaluations to the teams. However, this is a massive jump to QB3 in a loaded quarterback class.
Alabama 2026 QB commit Jett Thomalla finishes as 5-star and QB3 in Rivals300
“The more and more we watched the quarterback group, outside of the top two being Jared Curtis and Keisean Henderson, we felt more and more that Jett Thomalla made a really strong case as the No. 3 quarterback in the cycle. Thomalla had a fantastic senior season, threw for 58 touchdowns, he’s the best QB prospect to come from Nebraska in recent memory. While he played on a loaded team that really didn’t play many close games in 2025, when you watch the arm talent and the ability to make difficult throws, I’m not sure that anyone besides Curtis and Henderson put better difficult throws on film than Thomalla,” wrote Charles Power, Rivals’ Director of Scouting and Rankings.
Thomalla’s charge up the recruiting rankings began over the summer, not just with his flip to Alabama, but with his stellar performance at the Elite11 Finals. That’s when he started to turn more heads nationally, leading into his 58-touchdown senior season at Millard South High School in Omaha.
With Thomalla’s ascension to five-star status, Kalen DeBoer and Courtney Morgan have now landed a 5-star QB in back-to-back classes: Keelon Russell in 2025 and Thomalla in 2026. The Tide will have quite the crowded QB room in Tuscaloosa this year with Austin Mack and Russell both returning to compete for the starting job after Ty Simpson declared for the NFL Draft.
Unlike in Russell’s class, DeBoer opted to take two QBs in the 2026 class, also adding three-star Tayden Kaawa from Utah. Many programs would have handed the starting job to Russell to ensure he didn’t flee for the Transfer Portal. Alabama was able to keep both him and Mack around despite not guaranteeing the job to either player, and their view of Thomalla may have emboldened them to take that risk.
Thomalla’s path to the starting job in Tuscaloosa won’t be clear, but what’s undeniable is DeBoer and his staff’s ability to identify and attract QB talent. The Tide are all-in on high school recruiting, and hitting on quarterback is one of the most important pieces to executing that strategy because it’s often much cheaper than adding a proven veteran.